fam. 


MINUTES  OF  SPECIAL  MEETING 

OF 

THE  CHINA  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 

19  WEST  44th  STREET,  NEW  YORK 


The  China  Society  of  America  met  at  National 
Headquarters  in  New  York  City,  in  Special  Session, 
in  accordance  with  the  notice  sent  to  all  members 
on  September  9,  1922. 

There  were  present,  in  person,  the  following: 

W.  P.  Carey  Charles  F.  MacLean 

Edward  B.  Bruce  M.  J.  Miller 

John  J.  Brawley  Mrs.  M.  T.  Price 

Robert  McElroy  J.  F.  Rhame 

and,  by  duly  signed  proxies,  the  following: 


I.  Members  naming  President  Carey  as  proxy: 


John  Jay  Abbott 
Miss  Alma  P.  Adams 
Robert  Allerton 
Mrs.  Richard  S.  Barnes 
Crawford  M.  Bishop 
Edw.  Bloom  Co. 

Edw.  Bodmer,  Jr. 
Richard  V.  Briesen 
Ernest  D.  Burton 
Samuel  C.  Bushnell 
T.  H.  Chang 
Ta  Chen 
Charles  Cheney 
F.  H.  Clark 
A.  E.  Cory 
Crane  Bros.  Inc., 

(W.  B.  Crane,  Pres.) 
Crompton  &  Knowles 
Loom  Works 
M.  D.  Currie 
Grosvenor  Dawe 
Robert  Dollar 
P.  N.  Doubleday 
S.  A.  Everett 
John  E.  Ewell 
Edward  I.  Farmer 
Everett  O.  Fisk 
Soon  Fong 
Ng  Chark  Foon 


Sumner  Ford 
Mrs.  Simeon  Ford 
Warren  D.  Foster 
Lewis  B.  Gawtry 
The  GraefHatBandMfg. 
Co. 

Carl  W.  Hamilton 
Albert  Bushnell  Hart 
Hildred  M.  Hawkins 

F.  C.  Hitchcock 
T.  Hsieh 

G.  E.  Huggins 
Geo.  S.  Hiunphrey 
Alex.  C.  Htunphreys 

J.  W.  Jenks 

K.  S.  Latourette 
J.  Shiang-Min  Lee 
Lee  To 

Frank  E.  Low 
John  A.  Mapes 
Geo.  S.  McKearin 
C.  C.  Miles 
Henry  D.  B.  B.  Moore 

H.  K.  Murphy 
R.  W.  Orcutt 

R.  C.  Patterson,  Jr. 
Denman  W.  Ross 
Serrell  Bros. 

T.  K.  Lincoln  Shah 


September  27,  1922. 


Galen  L.  Stone 
J.  A.  Thomas 
Peter  H.  Troy 
Miss  C.  H.  Whitmore 


Wilkes-Barre  Silk  Co. 
(Geo.  A.  Post,  Treas.) 
Mary  C.  Woolverton 
(Mrs.  S.) 


II.  Members  naming  Dr.  McElroy  as  proxy: 
Andrew  B.  Humphrey,  Ramsay  Peugnet 
Mrs.  M.  W.  Ferris  T,  P.  Wang 

HI.  Members  naming  Dr.  R.  A.  Ward  as  proxy: 
Prank  Mason  North  and  William  Hrmg 


IV.  Members  naming  Dr.  J.  W.  Jenks  as  proxy: 
P.  S.  Brockman 


V.  Members  naming  C.  P.  Yao  as  proxy: 

Roland  Moore 

The  Minutes  of  the  last  meeting  were  read  and 
approved. 

The  Managing  Director  then  read  his  report  as 
follows:  ‘'The  chief  work  of  The  China  Society  of 
America  during  the  summer  months  has  been  reor¬ 
ganization.  Frederic  Eugene  Reeve,  certified  public 
accountant  was  engaged  to  audit  the  books  for  the 
years  following  June  1,  1920,  and  found  the  accounts 
in  good  order. 

“Mr.  William  Church  Osborn  of  New  York  was 
asked  to  report  what  steps  were  necessary  to  put 
into  operation  the  new  Constitution,  a  copy  of  which 
was  mailed  to  each  member  on  August  8,  printed  in 
Pamphlet  No.  I.  His  suggestions  were  as  follows: 


OSBORN,  FLEMING  &  WHITTLESEY 
Counsellors  at  Law 
170  Broadway 
New  York 

Mr  Robert  McElroy,  August  30,  1922. 

19  West  44th  Street, 

New  York  City. 

Mr.  dear  Mr.  McElroy 

Replying  to  your  letter  of  August  28th,  which 
raises  two  points:  First,  the  change  of  the  munber 
of  directors,  and,  second,  the  change  of  the  date  of 
the  annual  meeting. 


( 


First,  Section  14  of  the  IMenibership  Corporation 
Law  provides  that  the  number  of  its  directors  may 
be  changed  by  the  vote  of  a  majority  of  its  members 
present  at  an  annual  meeting  or  at  any  special  meet- 
ing  duly  called  for  that  purpose.  A  special  meeting 
shall  be  called  by  giving  two  weeks’  notice  in  writing 
to  each  member,  which  notice  shall  be  served  per¬ 
sonally  by  mail  to  the  last  known  post-office  address 
of  the  members  or  by  publication  once  a  week  for 
three  succe^ive  weeks  in  two  newspapers  within  the 
cotmty  where  the  special  meeting  is  to  be  held. 
After  such  meeting,  a  certificate  shall  be  filed  and  the 
number  of  directors  shall  thereupon  be  increased. 

Second,  the  time  for  holding  the  annual  meeting 
may  also  be  changed  at  the  annual  or  special  meet¬ 
ing-  This  is  also  effected  by  the  vote  of  the  merr- 
bers  at  a  special  or  annual  meeting,  and  by  filing  a 
certificate. 

Both  these  changes  might  be  considered  at  one 
meeting  called  by  a  notice  specifying  the  different 
objects  of  the  meeting.  I  enclose  a  form  of  notice 
which  is  suitable  for  calling  these  meetings.  You 
will  notice  that  these  changes  are  to  be  made  by  the 
members  so  that  it  is  of  no  consequence  who  were 
the  former  directors. 

It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  the  acts  of  the  direc¬ 
tors  acting  as  such  under  supposed  authority  would 
be  invalid  especially  as  they  have  probably  been 
ratified  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Society.  If 
this  latter  action  has  not  been  taken,  it  should  be 
taken  at  the  next  meeting.  In  any  event,  the  So¬ 
ciety  itself  could  not  question  any  action  taken  by 
the  directors. 

If  you  desire  any  further  information,  kindly  let 
me  know. 

Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)  Wm.  Church  Osborn. 

“The  present  meeting  was  called  in  accordance 
with  his  suggestions,  and  the  Constitution  is  now 
presented  for  your  final  decision,  involving  three 
important  changes: 

“(1)  An  increase  in  the  number  of  the  Board  of 
Directors ; 

“(2)  A  change  of  the  date  of  the  Annual  Meeting; 

“(3)  The  creation  of  an  Executive  Council  com¬ 
posed  of  six  Vice-Presidents,  the  Managing 
Director  and  the  Treasurer; 

“(4)  The  creation  of  several  new  classes  of  mem¬ 
bership. 

“Pending  the  completion  of  our  organization  plans, 
it  seemed  best  not  to  draw  upon  the  ftmds  raised  by 


the  special  canvass  conducted  by  Mr.  Carey,  Mr. 
Perin,  Mr.  Bruce  and  your  Managing  Director,  until 
all  legal  questions  had  been  properly  adjusted.  The 
checks  therefore  were  deposited  in  the  Bank  of 
America,  whose  President,  Mr.  Edward  C.  Dela- 
field,  has  consented  to  act  as  Treasurer  of  The  China 
Society  of  America,  and  have  not  been  disturbed. 

“Mr.  Carey  has  generously  advanced  the  money 
necessary  to  conduct  the  work  of  the  Society,  except 
so  much  as  was  available  in  the  general  accounts  of 
the  Society  and  the  amounts  received  from  dues. 
These  were  all  deposited  to  the  personal  account  of 
your  Managing  Director,  in  the  Guaranty  Ti^ust 
Company,  and  their  amounts,  together  with  the 
details  of  expenditure,  appear  in  the  financial  report 
submitted. 

“New  and  larger  quarters  have  been  taken  and 
fitted  up  at  19  West  44th  Street,  where  we  hope  to 
receive  all  members  visiting  New  York. 

“Early  in  June,  at  a  luncheon  attended  by  the 
President,  three  Vice-Presidents,  Mr.  Huggins  and 
the  Managaing  Director,  it  was  decided  to  suggest 
to  the  active  clergymen  in  New  York  and  the  four 
neighboring  states,  that  their  services  of  Sunday, 
September  17th,  Constitution  Day,  be  devoted  to 
the  task  of  emphasizing  the  fact  that  the  principles 
of  our  Constitution  are  today  on  trial  in  China. 

“Concerning  this  plan.  Dr.  David  Jayne  Hill, 
Chairman  of  the  National  Committee  which  first 
instituted  the  annual  celebration  of  Constitution 
Day,  wrote  to  your  Director,  who  was  the  active 
head  of  that  committee: 

“  ‘Your  letter  of  July  12th  regarding  the  na¬ 
tional  movement  for  celebrating  Constitution  Day 
next  September  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  so 
successfully  pursued  in  1919  has  reached  me.  .  .  . 
You  can  render  China  no  better  service  than  to 
impress  upon  our  own  people  the  value  of  Consti¬ 
tutional  Government,  not  only  to  ourselves,  but 
to  the  future  of  China,  and  I  hope  you  will  carry 
out  the  project  you  have  outlined.  I  am  confi¬ 
dent  our  National  Association  for  Constitutional 
Government  will  be  pleased  to  associate  itself  with 
you  in  this  work.’ 

“The  plan  was  carried  out,  but  only  in  five  states, 
as  the  time  was  too  short  for  the  organization  of  a 
national  movement. 

“Eight  hundred  and  fifty  clergymen  adopted  the 
suggestion,  and  to  each  was  sent  one  or  more  copies 
of  Pamphlet  No.  II,  which  is  in  effect  an  address 
especially  prepared  for  use  upon  these  occasions. 
Some  ministers  asked  for  one,  some  for  one  hundred 


copies’,  and  each  received  what  he  requested.  There¬ 
fore  five  thousand  copies  of  Pamphlet  No.  II  were 
distributed  on  application,  and  we  have  reason  to 
believe  that  over  800  China  Society  meetings  were 
held  on  Constitution  Day. 

"A  brief  publicity  notice  regarding  these  meetings 
was  mailed  to  the  14  leading  newspapers  printed  in 
English  in  China,  and  a  similar  notice  was  sent  to 
the  New  York  papers. 

‘‘Pamphlet  No.  Ill  was  prepared  by  Mr.  Merle 
R.  Walker,  one  of  our  Directors.  It  contains  per¬ 
sonal  sketches  of  the  24  men  regarded  as  most  promi¬ 
nent  in  Chinese  politics  at  the  present  moment,  and 
therefore  most  likely  to  figure  in  the  Peking  dis¬ 
patches.  Copies  have  been  mailed  to  all  members, 
and  to  the  list  of  prospective  members. 

“In  addition  to  these  activities,  two  elaborate 
interviews  have  been  prepared  and  sent  to  the  lead¬ 
ing  newspapers  in  48  districts  of  the  United  States. 
This  work  was  done  by  the  Edward  Marshall  Syn¬ 
dicate,  one  of  the  best  known  special  feature  syndi¬ 
cates  in  America. 

“The  first  interview  was  with  Mr.  Carey,  the  new 
President  of  The  China  Society  of  America.  The 
second  was  with  Mr.  William  Church  Osborn,  one  of 
our  members,  who  has  recently  returned  from  an 
extended  tour  in  China. 

“Together,  these  interviews  represent  many  pages 
of  newspaper  publicity  in  many  sections  of  the 
country. 

“Aside  from  these  instances,  there  has  been  little 
publicity  during  the  summer.  Asia,  in  the  August 
nximber,  published  a  picture  of  President  Li  Yuan 
Hung,  with  acknowledgment.  The  Director  has 
also  furnished  for  a  forthcoming  issue  of  Asia  a 
brief  review  of  General  Golovin’s  “Problem  of  the 
Pacific.” 

“The  Director  has  also  made  several  addresses  for 
,  the  Society  during  the  summer.  The  first  was  at  a 
luncheon  of  the  Philadelphia  Export  Club  on  Jime 
26th.  The  rest  were  at  the  Eighteenth  Annual  Con¬ 
ference  of  the  Eastern  Section,  Chinese  Students’ 
Alliance  in  America,  at  Ithaca,  where  the  Director 
spoke  four  times  and  furnished  two  other  speakers, 
Mrs.  M.  T.  Price  and  Mr.  C.  Y.  Cheng.  Of  Mrs. 
Price’s  address  the  official  Bulletin  of  the  congress 
declared:  ‘That  she  has  sensed  the  impression  left 
by  Abraham  Lincoln  on  his  audience  after  the  famous 
Gettysburg  speech,  is  the  fact  admitted  by  all  dele¬ 
gates  who  attended  the  address  by  Mrs.  M.  T.  Price 
of  New  York  this  morning.  .  .  .  on  the  subject ‘The 
Spirit  of  Youth  and  China.’ 


“Mr.  Cheng,  who  last  year  was  President  of  the 
China  Students’  Club  of  Columbia  University, 
attended  the  conference  as  a  representative  of  The 
China  Society,  in  charge  of  the  distribution  of  liter¬ 
ature  and  of  work  in  the  interest  of  student  mem¬ 
berships. 

“Two  resignations  from  the  Board  of  Directors 
have  been  received  during  the  summer: 

“(1)  Mrs.  Walter  Weyl. 

“(2)  Mr.  Tsze  E.  Pun. 

“As  there  has  been  no  formal  meeting  of  the  Board 
of  Directors  since  the  last  meeting  of  the  China  Soci¬ 
ety  on  June  22,  1922,  these  resignations  have  not  yet 
been  considered,  but  formal  acknowledgments  have 
been  sent  by  the  Director. 

“There  has  been  no  special  effort  made  during  the 
summer  to  secure  new  members,  but  a  few  names 
have  been  added  to  our  roll,  and  there  have  also 
been  a  number  of  renewals. 

“There  are  pending  certain  matters  of  importance: 

“(1)  Dr.  G.  T.  Chao,  Director  for  the  Tsing  Hua 
Students  in  America,  came  to  New  York  on  June 
15th  to  lunch  with  your  Managing  Director  and  dis¬ 
cuss  certain  questions  relating  to  the  large  and  im¬ 
portant  body  of  Chinese  students  studying  in  our 
various  colleges  and  universities. 

“After  his  return  to  Washington  Dr.  Choa  sent  the 
Society  a  manuscript  from  one  of  the  ^udents  under 
his  charge  with  the  explanation:  ‘Thinking  that  you 
may  be  interested  in  knowing  the  difficulties  of  our 
students  in  regard  to  opportunities  for  practical  ex¬ 
perience,  I  am  sending  an  extract  from  a  report  of 
Mr.  En-Lang  Chao,  a  graduate  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology.’ 

“The  enclosed  report,  after  explaining  how  difii- 
cult  it  is  for  even  the  best-trained  Chinese  student 
to  get  practical  experience  in  engineering,  sums  up 
the  question  in  these  words:  ‘After  we  get  through 
our  undergraduate  course  in  any  division  or  branch 
of  engineering,  we  really  don’t  know  very  much  about 
our  profession,  save  a  little  bit  here  and  there  from 
text-books.’  He  then  adds  that  there  is  ‘a  sugges¬ 
tion  I  venture  to  make  to  you  which  .  .  .  will  possi¬ 
bly  help  to  give  the  Chinese  engineering  student  a 
fair  chance  to  learn  something  that  is  common  sense 
to  every  practical  man.  .  .  .’ 

“  ‘My  idea  is  that  the  mission,  either  directly  or 
indirectly  through  the  diplomatic  channels,  shall 
negotiate  with  the  several  big  industrial  concerns  in 
this  country  and  make  agreements  with  them  that 
they  will  take  in  a  certain  number  of  Chinese  engi- 


neering  graduates  each  year,  distributing  them  into 
their  different  works  and  giving  them  a  general 
training  along  their  respective  lines.’ 

“Dr.  Chao  and  your  Director  are  agreed  that  per¬ 
haps  this  work  could  be  done  best  by  the  China 
Society.  With  the  aid  of  the  representatives  of  the 
great  corporations  which  have  generously  contrib¬ 
uted  to  our  maintenance,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
solve  this  problem,  considered  by  those  in  a  position 
to  know  best,  ‘the  most  important  tmsolved  problem’ 
connected  with  the  education  of  Chinese  in  America. 

“(2)  Another  incident  of  interest  is  the  question 
of  a  Chinese  play,  recently  written  by  Mr.  Maurice 
V.  Samuels,  author  of  ‘The  Wanderer’  and  other  com¬ 
mercially  successful  plays.  Mr.  Samuels  has  sub¬ 
mitted  the  text  of  his  new  play  ‘The  Flame  of  Love’ 
to  the  China  Society  in  the  hope  that,  if  it  meets  our 
approval,  we  may  be  willing  to  give  it  our  moral  sup¬ 
port  and  possibly  aid  him  in  making  arrangements 
for  its  production,  not  as  a  subsidized  performance, 
but  as  a  commercial  play  which  interprets  the  more 
idealistic  side  of  China.  No  decision  has  been  as  yet 
reached  in  this  matter,  and  the  MS.  is  now  being 
read  by  Mrs.  Price. 

“(3)  Your  Director  has  discussed  with  the  Chinese 
Consul  General,  the  Honorable  Ziang  Ling  Chang, 
the  general  question  of  the  elimination  from  the  stage 
and  the  movie  film  certain  anti-Chinese  features 
which  have  become  almost  stereotyped  tradition,  and 
we  are  planning  another  meeting  with  reference  to 
the  same  subject  for  the  near  future. 

“There  have  been  minor  activities  too  niunerous 
to  mention  in  detail:  for  example,  a  plan  to  form  a 
China  Society  for  Southern  California,  concerning 
which  your  Director  has  been  and  still  is  in  corre¬ 
spondence  with  Mr.  Gamer  Curran,  President  of  the 
Pan-Pacific  Service  Bureau,  Los  Angeles. 

‘  ‘Respectf u  lly  submitted 

“Robert  McElroy 

Managing  Director.” 

The  special  order  of  the  day  being  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  which  had  been  sent  in  printed 
form  to  all  members  on  August  8,  1922,  the  President 
called  for  its  consideration.  After  a  brief  discussion 
the  Constitution  was  adopted  without  change,  the 
vote  being:  Yeas,  72;  Nays,  0. 

The  ratifying  resolution  was  as  follows: 

Resolved:  That  the  Constitution  of  The  China 
Society  of  America,  as  printed  in  Pamphlet  No.  I 


of  the  China  Society  Pamphlets,  be  and  is  hereby 
approved. 

The  following  resolutions  were  then  approved,  the 
vote  being  the  same  as  on  the  adoption  of  the  Con¬ 
stitution  : 

Resolved:  That  the  actions  taken  by  the  President 
and  the  Managing  Director  since  the  last  meeting 
of  this  Society  be  and  are  hereby  approved. 

Resolved:  That  the  Bank  of  America  is  authorized 
to  honor  ehecks  drawn  on  the  account  of  The  China 
Society  of  America  when  signed  by  any  two  of  the 
following: 

(1)  William  F.  Carey; 

(2)  Edward  C.  Delafield; 

(3)  Robert  McElroy; 

(4)  Emma  C.  Hanf. 

Resolved:  That  the  Directors  of  The  China  Society 
of  America,  elected  at  the  annual  meetings  of  the 
past  yeafs,  be  and  hereby  are  confirmed,  and  that 
the  actions  of  the  Board  to  which  they  were  elected 
be  and  hereby  are  declared  the  authorized  actions 
of  The  China  Society  of  America, 

Resolved:  That  the  China  Society  of  America,  in 
special  meeting  assembled,  this  twenty-seventh  day 
of  September,  nineteen  hundred  and  twenty-two,  de¬ 
sires  to  express  its  deep  sorrow  at  the  death  of  James 
Wesley  Kinnear,  one  of  its  honored  members,  and 
that  a  copy  of  this  resolution  be  sent  to  his  bereaved 
family. 

As  the  new  Constitution  gives  to  the  Board  of 
Directors  power  “to  fill  temporary  vacancies  in  its 
own  membership  occurring  between  stated  meetings 
of  the  Society,”  it  was  imanimously 

Resolved:  That  the  Board  be  asked  to  elect  at  its 
next  meeting,  Mr,  Owen  F.  Roberts,  to  fill  the 
vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Tsze  E. 
Pun, 

The  Managing  Direetor  was  instructed  to  write 
to  each  member  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  calling’ 
attention  to  the  fact  that  a  set  of  By-Laws — printed 
in  Pamphlet  No.  II — will  be  presented  for  adoption 
at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Board,  and  asking  for 
criticism  or  suggested  alterations  in  advance  of  that 
meeting. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned. 

Robert  McElroy, 

Secretary,  pro  tern. 


